WORLD OF PAIN. That is all.
Ha! You guys know I could never write a race report that short. We'll begin with a little conversation my brain had with my body this morning:
Right Quadricep: Dude, Brain, what the hell were you thinking?
Left Tricep: Yeah, seriously, we thought that whole ramming yourself into
an embankment thing would give us a break for a while.
Right Foot: Brain doesn't care about us...all he cares about are his
precious endorphins.
Left Hamstring: OOOOOWWWWWWWWW.
Pancreas: Si, tu estas loca! (Yes, my pancreas speaks Spanish)
Left Lung: Tu es fou! (And my lung apparently speaks French)
Brain: You guys are whiny bitches!
Yeah, my body hates me. So two weeks ago I was feeling good about this race...I had been putting in mass mileage on the bike, I knew I could finish the run, and Tammy had been putting me through the paces in the pool, so I was actually feeling like the swim might go well. Then I crashed my bike into an embankment previewing the bike course.
Last week I was, as Coach Pro would put it, "hating life." I was in pain and really down. I tried to go for a run last Saturday and had to stop to walk 4 times during 3 miles. I went for a short ride on Carrie's bike on Wed. and struggled to ride 16 mph on the Winter's loop. I went for a swim and had to give up after 20 minutes because my shoulder and ribs were hurting so much. I thought very seriously about not doing the race.
But, there is a part of me that is very persistent (or maybe stubborn...or stupid?)...so I decided to give the race a shot.
[Swim]
For the first time ever, I wasn't really nervous about the swim (I was too busy worrying about the bike). The water was cold...but nothing compared to Cal Poly (plus I was wearing Cater's non-holey wetsuit!). I had a "can't breathe" moment, but got over it quickly and was able to start swimming freestyle. About halfway through, I thought I saw Molly...but it turned out to be Not Molly (she had a full sleeve wetsuit, and I knew Molly's suit was sleeveless). But Not Molly had great sighting skills (she popped up every few strokes to check that she was on course), so I decided to just concentrate on keeping her on my right. My shoulder started to bother me a lot, but I was able to drown it out with some Destiny's Child ("I'm a survivor, I'm not gonna give up, I'm not gonna stop, I'm gonna work harder!"). Sooner than I expected, I was welcomed back to shore with a glorious cowbell clang. I forgot to set my watch, but later found out that my time was about the same as what I had done at Cal Poly (which was a shorter swim), so it didn't go half badly!
[Bike]
Now the part that I was really worried about. Carrie was wonderful and agreed to let me borrow her bike for the race, but I had only had a chance to try it out once before the race...and that was on flat Davis territory. So I spent the first 5 miles of the race figuring out how the gears worked. I discovered that every time I went into the "easy" setting on either the small or medium chain ring, a horrible squeaking noise was emitted. Oh dear. I probably should have thought to lube the chain before the race...I'm sure I inspired some people to ride faster just to get away from the sound :-) I settled into a good (but slow) rhythm, and even managed to pass some people. Around mile 20, I saw Kensuke, Zipp, Julia, Kian, Scott F, and Paul flying by in the other direction, looking strong. This put a smile on my face and took my mind briefly off of what I was dreading...the Plum Tree Road descent at mile 27. As it got closer and closer, I started to feel more and more like throwing up. I got passed by some ambulances and fire trucks with sirens wailing. At that point, I decided to walk my bike down the hill. I couldn't remember anything about the road, and I figured that I'd rather finish the race than risk crashing again. I got to the road, hopped off of my bike, and started jogging. I tried not to be demoralized as everyone that I had passed flew by me (most of them were really nice and yelled to ask if I was okay...gotta love triathletes). I looked to see if there was a Beth imprint (cartoon style) anywhere on the side of the road. I was nearing the bottom of the descent when one guy paused...and then wouldn't leave. I explained to him that I was fine and just freaked out a little bit about the descent because I had crashed on it two weeks ago. Our conversation:
Guy: That doesn't matter, you need to get back on the bike.
Me: I will...at the bottom of this hill.
Guy: No, you need to get back on now.
Me: No.
Guy: I'll tell you what...if you crash again, I'll hook you up with one of the best docs over at the hospital...I used to work there and he's a friend. (WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE REASSURING???)
Me: Are we almost to the bottom?
Guy: You're not going to get back on, are you? (Well, I certainly wasn't planning on jogging the other 30 miles back to T2!)
Me: At the bottom of the hill.
Finally, we got to the bottom, and I got back on my bike. I thought that would pacify Guy, but he proceeded to ride with me for the next 25 miles. I think he thought I was freaked out about riding downhill in general (which I was a little bit, but not as much as I was about Plum Tree), so he proceeded to warn me every time we approached even the slightest descent. He also gave me (unsolicited) advice on when to drink, when to eat, and what gears to use. I was a little annoyed...but in retrospect, I'm glad that he was there, because I think I might have come close to giving up soon after that descent (I was still feeling like puking), and I was too busy being distracted to seriously consider it.
About mile 40, my shoulders and neck were in agony. Carrie has a longer torso than me, so my upper body was in an awkward position. As Matt Roper pointed out earlier in the week, 56 miles is a long way to ride on someone else's bike. At that point, though, I figured there were only 16 miles left, so how bad could it be? :-P
Around mile 50, my legs actually started to feel pretty good. I spun up the big hill and passed several people that had passed me earlier on my jog down Plum Tree. It's very strange, but after riding 100 miles twice, I really think it takes me about 50 miles to get warmed up on the bike. :-)
[Run]
I paused in T2 to do an "I didn't crash dance" for Julia, Marie, Danny, Scott2, Scott J, my sister, and everyone else who cheered for me, and then I was off on the run. After about mile 4, my main goal became just to maintain forward motion...I ran, I jogged, I shuffled, I walked, I staggered. I should have been hating life, but discovered that I was actually having a great time. Despite my fears that I would be the last person to finish the race, there were actually quite a few people around me, and we all spent a lot of time encouraging each other. I saw Ruth (Juan's girlfriend), Molly, and Shannon twice and they all gave me big smiles. The aid stations were awesome...gotta love cold sponge baths. Of course, the UCD station at miles 9 and 11 was the best. I was greeted by Bevin waving a big "Happy Thoughts" sign and clanging a cowbell, and was cheered on by Cater, Suzie, Kelly, and Ryan. As I passed through, the cheering was deafening, and it almost made me cry. The last 2 miles of the run was flat (hooray!!!), and I made myself keep running for the whole thing (gotta finish strong!). As I headed into the finish, three of the hottest guys that I have seen in a long time told me I was "lookin' good" and gave me big hot smiles. I almost turned around to ask if they wanted my phone number, but then decided that I really didn't need to add any extra distance to this race. Next race I'm just going to write my phone number on my arm for interested parties. I went through a UCD high five line, then finished! I have never been so happy to stop moving in my entire life. :-)
So many thanks are in order:
In conclusion, you guys are the best! And I've decided that every other 1/2 Ironman will seem easy after this one...so I'm just going to have to do an Ironman. :-)
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